Bibi at centre of criminal investigation
Israeli detectives launched a criminal investigation against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, arriving at his residence in a police car and questioning him for more than three hours.
JERUSALEM – Israeli detectives launched a criminal investigation against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, arriving at his residence in a police car and questioning him for more than three hours.
Israelis have been left wondering whether the investigation will reach a dead end, as with some past Netanyahu probes, or gain traction and snowball into a major political crisis, as with the 2007 police investigation against then-prime minister Ehud Olmert, which led to his downfall.
Netanyahu’s political opponents are already weighing the possibility that he could be forced to resign and considering the harm this could cause to confidence in politicians. “If two prime ministers in a row fall from office because of corruption it will be very hard to rehabilitate the public’s trust in its leadership,” said Yair Lapid, leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party – while stressing that Netanyahu is presumed innocent unless proved otherwise.
Netanyahu has told the opposition to “hold off on the festivities,” saying that he will get through this investigation unscathed. He declared that “there is not going to be anything – because there is nothing.” Netanyahu claims that spurious allegations have been made against him for years, and referred to “long years of daily persecution against me and my family.”
As with the Olmert investigation, the Netanyahu probe examines alleged high-value gifts from wealthy businesspeople. Contacted by The AJN for clarification, Israel’s Justice Ministry said that the police’s national fraud unit has been looking into “a long line of allegations that the Prime Minister allegedly committed offences in the field of integrity.”
The allegations of inappropriate gifts are thought to refer to, among other things, expensive clothing for Netanyahu and foreign travel for his son. It is unclear who the businesspeople are, but Israeli media outlets are suggesting that one is the American billionaire Ronald Lauder. Israel’s Channel 10 recently suggested that the Netanyahus had received benefits from the Australian billionaire James Packer, but it is unclear whether ties to him are under investigation.
Beyond the alleged benefits from businesspeople, there is a second strand to the investigation which is thought to be more serious, but which is being kept secret.
Despite the haziness surrounding the investigation, it appears to pose a more serious threat to Netanyahu’s political future than the numerous past scandals, which have included objections to his spending on ice cream and his wife’s handling of money received when taking bottles for recycling.
Michael Partem, vice-president of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, told The AJN that in his view “it’s not to be taken lightly that the Prime Minister is interrogated under oath.” He noted that this could only happen with approval of the Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who Netanyahu appointed. “The fact that [Mandelblit] has given approval is an indication that the allegations are serious, they are not trivial matters,” said Partem.
According to the Justice Ministry, the investigation has already involved “numerous operations, including deposing dozens of witnesses, some overseas, some of whom were deposed several times, and the seizure of relevant documents”. It has also seen “dozens” of meetings held between the Attorney General, state attorney, Justice Ministry officials, national fraud unit officers, various officials, and police investigators.
If the investigation intensifies and forces Netanyahu’s resignation, Lapid and his centrist Yesh Atid party could prove the big winners, as they have been emerging in recent polling as the most popular choices for voters.
Lapid has urged for the investigation to be concluded quickly – unlike the protracted Olmert probe. He said that “for the good of the country and the people, it needs to be done quickly,” adding: “We can’t allow what happened around the investigation of Olmert to be repeated. We can’t sink into months of investigations.”
NATHAN JEFFAY
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